Derby champ I'll Have Another wins Preakness

Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another won the 137th Preakness on Saturday, charging down the backstretch to edge Bodemeister by a head for a victory that sustained his Triple Crown bid. Living up to his name, I'll Have Another put himself in position to become the first horse since Affirmed in 1978 to sweep the American treble by taking the Derby, Preakness and next month's 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes in New York. "We're thinking Triple Crown," I'll Have Another trainer Doug O'Neill said. "Why not? He's a special horse. We're heading to New York, baby." The chestnut colt also charged down the closing straightaway two weeks ago at Churchill Downs to overtake Bodemeister just ahead of the finish line, but Bodemeister was made a Preakness favorite because the race was 1/16th of a mile shorter than the 1 1/4-mile Derby. But I'll Have Another won in 1:55.94 with Derby runner-up Bodemeister settling for second again and Creative Cause placing third in a field of 11 horses, the smallest at the Preakness since 2007. And I'll Have Another might just have sent a message to any doubters who think he might not be able to handle to distance in three weeks in the longest Triple Crown race and end the longest Triple Crown sweep drought in history. "I haven't thought past today. I didn't let myself do it," I'll Have Another owner J. Paul Reddam said. "We'll see you in New York. I can't imagine it. We know it's going to be crazy. I'm going to try and keep everyone's feet on the ground." Mexican jockey Mario Gutierrez said that I'll Have Another deserves more of the credit for how the race was run than he did while sitting atop him. "It's all in the horse," Gutierrez said. "He's just a great horse. I'm so happy for him. He has a tremendous kick. He's more smart than I am. He waits for me." Bodemeister trainer Bob Baffert could only pay his respects to a horse that outraced his stallion running exactly how he wanted. "I felt good about where he was," Baffert said. "Turning for home I really thought he had it. The winner is a good horse. He will get the respect now he deserves. "He didn't win it but our horse was pretty good too. He showed up. He ran his race." O'Neill, a first-time Preakness winner as a trainer, watched the closing drama unfold with confidence but tension. "It was incredible," O'Neill said. "I'm just numb. When I saw Mario get him in stride mid-stretch, I had faith in him." Reddam did not want to think a repeat win could happen, until it did. "I knew it was a long stretch," he said. "There was a point I didn't think we were going to get there. I'll Have Another was running his guts out. With 10 yards to go I didn't think he was going to be able to do it." I'll Have Another ran only three times last year before suffering a shin injury last September. He did not run again until this past February and then earned a trip to Kentucky by winning April's Santa Anita Derby.